CH 8 One of A Kind

"This is the beginning of a new day.
God has given me this day to use as I will.
I can waste it or use it for good
What I do today is very important
because I am exchanging a day of my life for it.
When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever,
leaving something in its place have traded for it
I want it to be gain not loss...
Good not evil...
Success, not failure...
In order that I shall not forget the price I paid for it."

I was a new sales manager in early 1974 when I met Ken Obermeyer. I was 30 years old; he was 43. I wasn’t sure I wanted to hire him for an opening I had on my sales staff. Our manager felt that since I had no other good recruits I should hire Ken. I thought he was an obnoxious “old man.” Later I found that he thought I was an arrogant young man. It would seem our future together was doomed. First impressions are often accurate and lasting, but not in this case. Ken’s first year he was the outstanding first year agent in our area. His first nine years he made the company Leader’s Club. He was and is the hardest worker I ever hired. My first recruit became my best. I hired many good people over the next 25 years, but none ever matched him.

When I showed him an idea, he took it and used it. Often he modified the idea to his own style and actually improved upon it. At the end of 1974 I decided to return to the Wichita office. Ken, and his wife Loyce were convinced that he would fail and their family would starve. I have already mentioned his continued success. One thing Ken and the other members taught me in that year was to give everyone fair but not necessarily equal treatment. Each person was a unique individual with their own needs. When I had taken over the staff I was 29; five of the agents had over 30 years with the company. They neither wanted nor needed the same treatment the newer agents needed.

Twenty-five years have passed since that wonderful year in Overland Park. Many things have changed. Ken and I have managed to remain friends throughout the years and in spite of the miles separating us. We often visit and go out to dinner sharing the memories of a time that probably never was. He was truly “one of a kind.” Ken gave me a copy of the verse opening this thought. My life has been better because of the memory of the hardest worker I ever worked with.

"Be sincere. Be simple in words, manners, and gestures. Amuse as well as instruct. If you can, make him think and he will like and believe you." Alfred E. Smith

"Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath." James 1:19